Top Ten Homeschool Companies

Updated: May, 2018 – this list now includes our favorite homeschool companies we’ve used from elementary through high school!

It’s the end of school year for most, which means only one thing . . .

It’s time to plan for the new school year!

Some of you are new to homeschooling and have no idea where to begin. Others of you are unhappy with what you’ve been using and wonder what else is out there. And many of you are perfectly happy with what you have, but wouldn’t mind adding something new to your homeschool days.

So, I thought I would take a moment and share with you my Top Ten Homeschool Companies. These are the companies that provide the meat of our homeschool. They are companies that I always seem to fall back on whenever I’m looking for something new to do. Where applicable, I’ll share my favorite products from each company, but overall, if they are on this list, you can trust most anything they sell.

With 400 classes for grades PreK-12, in every subject you can imagine (and you few you probably wouldn’t even think of), we consider SchoolhouseTeachers.com to be our most flexible and affordable choice for delight-directed learning, electives, high school prep, enrichment, and core classes. For one low monthly or yearly price, you can homeschool your entire family (and that price never changes as long as you maintain a membership). They have frequent sales and I have a coupon code (BENANDME) you can use anytime for a huge discount on the monthly membership. Or you can join for just $5 for your first month with the code: TRIAL.

Never in my wildest imagination did I think we would fall in love with BJU Press. In the past, I’ve been sort of anti- “textbook” learning. But when I went looking for a biblical worldview curriculum for high school and discovered Biblical Worldview from BJU Press, it changed everything. In fact, for later in high school, we are also planning to use their Economics and Government texts and are considering Spanish as well, because these 3 courses also include a “distance learning” option (video-based lectures) that I think will greatly benefit Ben. If you’re looking for a strong biblical worldview curriculum with or without a video component, check out what BJU Press has to offer.

This is another fairly new company for us, but so far, I am very impressed with what I’ve seen. I’ve written reviews for several of their resources, and we are happily incorporating many of them into our homeschool days (or soon will be). Check out Visual Latin, Dave Raymond’s American History and Modernity, and Word Up! to get you started. You can download FREE LESSONS for everything they sell! If you are new to homeschooling, I highly recommend a tour with Homeschool Made Simple before you begin buying any curriculum.

Sometimes we explore nature just by going outside with a drawing pad and pencils. But most of the time, that turns into playtime unless we have something in mind to study. That’s why we love NaturExplorers. Inside each of these units you’ll find a plethora of learning opportunities. Our favorites are Beautiful Birds, Everchanging Erosion, Incredible Creeks, and Wonderful Wildflowers.

Unit studies have long been the staple of our homeschool. Still today we often homeschool topics using this method. When you are looking for pre-written unit studies, don’t overlook UnitStudy.com (formerly Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett). With options for grades K-12, in many subjects from science, history, and geography to foods and holidays, you can use these resources to homeschool all of your children at once in a fun and interesting way that will serve most any learning style well.

We love all things Apologia at our house. Their Science and Apologetics curricula have greatly enriched our homeschool. And my very favorite book about homeschooling is published here, Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson. Our most recent favorite is their writing curriculum for middle school written by Sharon Watson (see more about her below) — Jump In.

This 3-year Bible survey is new to us, but at first glance (or two), I can say I have never been so impressed with a Bible curriculum, and trust me, I have looked at many. Aimed at youth grades PreK-12, Bible Road Trip will allow your family to survey the Bible cover-to-cover in 3 years ~ with breaks for summer. There are notebooking pages available for the Lower Grammar (Grades 1-3), Upper Grammar (Grades 4-6) and Dialectic (Grades 7-9) levels. Students at the Rhetoric level (Grades 10-12) will keep their own notebooks and be busy sharing their information with others!

Another of our favorite homeschool companies, Writing with Sharon Watson publishes both fiction writing and nonfiction writing curriculum for high school students, designed to fully prepare your students for college-level writing. We will be using these resources during Ben’s final years of high school. But for now, we are excited to be using their latest resource, Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide, a literature course also written for high school students. Illuminating Literature. This course combines 8 books — covering apologetics, classics, and modern literature — into a biblical worldview course that I feel confident will help Ben to develop the ability to discern anything he reads in the future. You can try the first two lessons free here.

One of the most solid writing programs available to homeschoolers, I wish I had discovered it when Ben was younger so we could have always used it. But we didn’t discover it until Ben was ready for WriteShop 1 & 2. However, I have reviewed several levels and last year helped the owner of the company with her booth at a homeschool convention. I was so touched (and impressed) when parent after parent stopped by to share how using WriteShop had changed their writing-reluctant students into wonderful writers. A few students even came by for the honor of meeting (and getting a picture with) the person who had helped them greatly improve their writing skills. Whatever the grades of your children, from K to middle/high school, if you’re looking for a common sense approach to teaching writing, I highly recommend this company. Be sure to visit their blog for tons of FREE writing prompts.

And because I couldn’t stop at 10 . . . here’s a bonus company that you may not have even heard of, but that you’ll want to know about if you are homeschooling high school.

When searching for high school electives especially, you’ll want to take a peek at 7Sisters Homeschool. With courses in everything from Psychology and Financial Literacy to Philosophy and Early Childhood Development, as well as English, Speech, and Drama, these courses are well designed and customizable for every level of ability — even advanced learners. They also have a fantastic blog with all kinds of helpful instruction and encouragement for homeschooling high school, as well as a fun and informational podcast. If you’re just starting to homeschool high school, be sure to grab their free course on homeschooling high school.

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Disclosure

Ben and Me is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. This site contains links from a number of other affiliate programs as well. If you click on these links and make a purchase, I may receive a commission. This does not cost you any more, and it helps cover costs associated with running the website. I am very picky about the products I recommend and the companies I support. I never recommend a product I would not use myself.